1Building via IDE Project Files
2==============================
3
4   This document describes how to compile, build and install curl and libcurl
5   from sources using an IDE based development tool such as Visual Studio.
6
7   Project files are currently available for Visual C++ v6.0 to v12.0. The
8   following directory structure has been used to cater for this:
9
10   somedirectory\
11    |_curl
12      |_projects
13        |_<platform>
14          |_<ide>
15            |_lib
16            |_src
17
18   This structure allows for side-by-side compilation of curl on the same
19   machine using different versions of a given compiler (for example VC8, VC9
20   and VC10) and allows for your own application or product to be compiled
21   against those variants of libcurl for example.
22
23   Note: Typically this side-by-side compilation is generally only required
24   when a library is being compiled against dynamic runtime libraries.
25
26Dependencies
27============
28
29   The projects files also support build configurations that require third
30   party dependencies such as openssl and ssh2. If you wish to support these,
31   you will also need to download and compile those libraries as well.
32
33   To support compilation of these libraries using different versions of
34   compilers, the following directory structure has been used for both the
35   output of curl and libcurl as well as these dependencies.
36
37   somedirectory\
38    |_curl
39    | |_ build
40    |    |_<architecture>
41    |      |_<ide>
42    |        |_<configuration>
43    |          |_lib
44    |          |_src
45    |
46    |_openssl
47    | |_ build
48    |    |_<architecture>
49    |      |_VC <version>
50    |        |_<configuration>
51    |
52    |_libssh2
53      |_ build
54         |_<architecture>
55           |_VC <version>
56             |_<configuration>
57
58   As OpenSSL doesn't support side-by-side compilation when using different
59   versions of Visual Studio a build helper batch file has been provided to
60   assist with this. Please run "build-openssl -help" for usage details.
61
62Building with Visual C++
63========================
64
65   To build with VC++, you will of course have to first install VC++ which is
66   part of Visual Studio.
67
68   If you are building with VC6 then you will also need the February 2003
69   Edition of the Platform SDK which can be downloaded from:
70
71    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=12261
72
73   Once you have VC++ installed you should launch the application and open one
74   of the solution or workspace files.
75
76   Whilst files are provided for both libcurl and the curl command line tool as
77   well as a configuration that includes both, it is recommend that you use the
78   all-in-one configuration.
79
80Notes
81=====
82
83   The following keywords have been used in the directory hierarchy:
84   
85   <platform>      - The platform (For example: Windows)
86   <ide>           - The IDE (For example: VC6, VC10, BCC5)
87   <architecture>  - The platform architecture (For example: Win32, Win64)
88   <configuration> - The target configuration (For example: DLL Debug,
89                     LIB Release - LIB OpenSSL)
90
91TODO
92====
93
94   These project files are a recent addition to the curl source code and as such
95   are not 100% complete. This is a list of things that are still todo:
96
97   * Support zlib
98   * Support WinIDN
99   * Use of static runtime libraries
100   * Generate *.vcxproj.filters files for VC10, VC11 and VC12
101   * Add the Test Suite components
102   * Support for other development IDEs
103
104   Any additional help would be appreciated ;-)